Sporting Finland

Week 3 Highlights:

No game this week. The two Americans and myself were running a mini-camp style practices sessions for all of the Roosters young players this week. All sports in Finland are club sports and the Helsinki Roosters are one of the larger clubs in Finland. The men's senior team, (my team) play in the country highest league The Maple League or Vaahteraliiga, but there are many levels below. The A-Juniors are 21 and under team, B-Juniors 18 and under, and so on and so forth. There are women's flag teams and full contact teams also associated with the Roosters. The PeeWee's, or 15 and under players were the ones who attended our camp.

Sports in general are very popular in Finland. Ice hockey is by far the most popular sport in the country, with soccer a distant second. There are a few local teams that are followed but the best Finnish hockey players go to the NHL or Russian league where the moneys are. Winter and summer Olympic sports are surprising popular. A few weeks ago, as schools got out, there was this huge televised event that hosted track and field teams from grammar and high schools from all over Finland. And about 50% of the people you see jogging or walking for excerise around town have their ski poles with them. Although I said soccer was a distant second to hockey, it is still much more popular then any other traditional sport played across the world. The short Finnish summer keeps all the fields full of youth and adult soccer leagues, everyone seems to be either going to or coming from a soccer field between klo 17-21, or 5-9 p.m. The UEFA EuroCup 2008 started this past week and even though Finland didn't qualify this year, it seems to be universally understood that everyone watches those matches. Post practice this past Tuesday, I stopped in Ukkomunnki, or Old Monk, a bar/restaurant at the corner of my street during the Greece - Sweden match, met a bunch of Finnish guys and thing felt free to fill me in on the finer points of the match e.g. the Greek side is sloppy and not a fun team to watch, yet Sweden is a rival of Finland so they are hard to root for.

Note on starting random conversations with locals: Most people assume I am Finnish, why shouldn't they, so I often get approached or greeted with, "Moi." I took the time to learn simple greetings and phrase, but then after familiarities have been established, I have to blurt out some English and stop pretending to be multi-cultural. Because most everyone here speaks English to some degree I've fallen back to opening with a hearty, "Hello" and continuing the conversation in English. Lame, I know... but Finnish is impossible to understand. You can stare at a word for hours and not come close to guessing what it might mean in English.

The couple I met here, Sam and Krista were headed to Florida on holiday, (Krista's parents now live in Fort Lauderdale) and we went out to dinner to Manala (Finnish for the Devil) and had the best pizza in Helsinki. 10Euros for a decent size pie is a bargain here. Afterwards I headed to Colorado, to have a couple Koff with Toni a bartender I met the first week I got here. He had just gotten back from Malta and was singing its praises. Tough the lives of these Europeans, going to Malta on long weekends. Afterwards headed across the street to Molly Malone's and had a couple proper pints with Sam, who had come back out after taking the ladies home. Sam is an extremely bright, has an English and Languages Master's Degree from the University of Helsinki. We spent the next couple hours talking about the history of the linguistic of Finland and many more European countries. I know it doesn't sound like an exciting night but I find it amazing how you have this large volume of distinctly different cultures and ethnic groups so geographically close together here in Europe. Sweden, Russia, and Estonia are as close to Finland as Virginia and South Carolina are to North Carolina, ... but ethnically, culturally, and language wise they are not similar at all. I guess I am just a huge nerd.

This week being a bye week everyone decided to take me out and get the "big, silly American" drunk again. Friday last week, Kalle (head coach and starting middle linebacker) and Toni, (running back) bring me a bunch of things to make my spartan prison cell size apartment more livable.

Note: I now have some heavy sheets to block out the sun that now rises at 2 a.m., a small table to put assorted things on, an old Xbox, DVD player and microwave.

After a 12-pack of Olvi, a couple cans of Grape Long Drink, (a sweet Gin-based beverage) and many games of Madden 2007 we head downtown to meet Kalle and Toni's girlfriends and friends at another American-flavored bar,. Amarillo. Although the place never got busy to night was a blur of licorise flavored liquors and champange between the group of about 12 of us. The late night at the bar turned into an early morning of drinking at Kalle's apartment, in a weathly high-rise just outside downtown. The drinking turned to Mintu, a Rumplmintz cousin that Kalle was drinking straight out of the bottle by time I fell asleep, I can't keep up with these people.

Getting up Saturday morning/afternoon was a feat, but we all had to go out to Porvoo, a town 30 minutes west of Helsinki, to watch our opponents for next week. The are the defending national champions and have a strong, athletic team by Finnish standards. We play them Monday June 16th after I return from Nice. After an early dinner in Porvoo, I catch a ride home and try to crash for a couple hours, but before I know it the Roosters phone is blowing up and I am going back downtown to punish my liver some more. Saturday night conisisted of more of the same beers at a giant bar/club named Baker's. Then moved on to a couple of rock bars. The night bus home took me no where near Munkkineimi so I hiked til about 6, and finally got some well deserved rest.

My address for anyone interested.

John McKeon
Lokkalantie 16 B 41
00330 Helsinki
Finland

And if anyone is truly interested in coming to Helsinki, I got a tip from a few of the coaches, to buy the tickets here. Flights between HEL - NYC run 400E, or $600, which was much cheaper then any tickets I could find while in the States.

I wrote most this email on my flight to Nice, France. I am there for 4 days to meet my parents and site see the French Riveria a bit. Next week in Finland is the Midsummer holiday in Finland, or Juhannus, and I was invited to join a few of the players at their lake house north of Helsinki in the lake district.

Miss you all.

John